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Noting the time when you express breast milk

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share something which I learnt at my breastfeeding support group yesterday that I hope you will find helpful.

When you are expressing breast milk to feed to your baby on another day, it is a good idea to note the time that you expressed the breast milk. This is because breast milk is different at different times of the day. For example, breast milk which is expressed at night will contain more of the 'sleepy hormones' which help mums to fall back to sleep during the night feeds. You can then feed your baby the milk which was expressed at the equivalent time of day.

I found this really interesting - I am constantly impressed at how amazing, and adaptable, breast milk is.

That is interesting information and makes sense. However, as a mum who had to pump for 5 days, while my infant had open heart surgery, I think I was too stressed and tired (after spending so many hours in ICU) that I would have forgotten to note the time most of the time.

I ended up feeding that milk to another newborn when I cared for him for the first few days after his mother went back to work (she was happy for her son to receive the milk). I didn't notice the baby being any more or less "sleepy" from the milk he received, even though I didn't know what time of day I had expressed.

Very interesting information, but I'd encourage mums not to be too concerned about being sure bub is given milk at the proper time, from the proper expression (matching times). If you need to pump during the day because you're going to be away in the evening, it's totally fine. Bub will have a full tummy and you can enjoy your evening "getaway".

That's interesting information LJ, it makes sense and thank you so much for sharing. While I agree that it is not super important I do think it is cool information and it definitely wouldn't hurt. I always put the time on mine anyway. That way you know when it has maxed out the time it can be a room temperature, etc.

I can't imagine how tiring and difficult a time it must have been for you Kate when you expressed during the time your baby had open heart surgery. Certainly I would agree that if a mum is having to express a lot (e.g. because her baby is away from her in the special care unit) then the time of expressing could just be an added burden and the best thing is that the baby is receiving the breast milk anyway- an amazing food to give your baby under such difficult circumstances.

Perhaps this information is more relevant for mums who are just expressing occasionally.